United Russia challenges KPRF proposal to declare nationality in passports

Yuri Shuvalov has challenged a proposal made by leaders of the Communist party to reinstate "the nationality" column in passports of Russian citizens

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MOSCOW, October 25 (Itar-Tass) — Deputy Presidium secretary of the United Russia party's General Council Yuri Shuvalov has challenged a proposal made by leaders of the Communist party to reinstate "the nationality" column in passports of Russian citizens.

“The communists proclaimed themselves to be the followers of internationalism, but despite that they are attempting to use the nationalistic rhetoric. Now, the communists are attempting to reinstate the so called '"fifth" column in passports. Obviously, they do not know themselves yet what they need it for," Shuvalov said. "The fact of belonging to the Russian culture is no mark in one’s passport," he stressed.

"If KPRF wants to find out the ethnic structure of the population let them study the results of the census, but if they want to determine the rights of each citizen depending on the nationality column in one's passport this eloquently speaks of the state in which the Communist party is at present," Shuvalov said.

The KPRF proposal might merely be a Soviet principle- give a certificate to everyone to be safe. But, history shows that the communists' previous attempts to solve the national problem ended in the disintegration of the state - the way it was in 1917 and in 1991, Shuvalov said.

On October 24 the leaders of the Communist party put forward their program on the protection of the rights of the Russian population in the Russian Federation. The communists suggested tightening the immigration law and taking extraordinary measures for liquidation of ethnic gangs. A separate clause of their program envisages reinstating the nationality column in passports of Russian citizens. Incidentally, leader of the Communist party Gennady Zyuganov said that this initiative "usually enjoys support of the population."